Sprinting Toward the Finish Line

My own child was the very best that I had to offer the school - and I trusted the process.  After all, I had already spent twelve years of my life educating and loving the children that came into my care.  I could not even begin to consider my child being found in a situation that did not magnify his strengths and shape his shortfalls.  Yesterday I spoke of my own fifth grade experiences.  Jaren's fifth grade was a little different.  Fifth grade for him matched him with a teacher who was unshaken by his uniqueness.  One afternoon I went by her classroom and she stated, "Jaren was really in rare form today.  I finally said to him, 'Jaren, since you know so much today and you don't feel that you need to pay attention, you may teach class.'  Jaren got up, went to the front of the room and said, 'Class dismissed.' "

This teacher, Ms. Rose, laughed as she recounted his actions.  Class resumed without incident.  Needless to say, that was one of Jaren's most successful years in school.  He made the highest score of *all fifth grade students* on the end of grade reading exam that year.  Ms. Rose was truly a Rose of a teacher, and I believed that Jaren was on his way toward the brightest educational experience.  I often imagine another teacher taking that situation and responding in a different manner......sending him to the principal for disrupting class.  If the second scenario had been the reality, both Jaren and his teacher would have lost.

Teachers can make a child, or they can break a child.  Our assignment in life is a powerful one.  Mark Wasicsko, (director of the National Network for the Study of Educator Dispositions (NNSED) )  states, "“We are all emotional learners.  What really good teachers know is that it is all about people. You can get magnificent learning to happen when you know that.”  I have observed throughout my educational experiences (and my son's) that teacher disposition does have an impact upon student success.

I choose to be on the construction crew - not the wrecking crew.